A Snippet I Posted to SB's Brainstorming thread for MLP Fics:
Scootaloo wandered the streets of Ponyville well after sunset. There had been a party at Sweet Apple Acres for Granny Smith's Birthday, so she had needed to appear to "go home" much later than usual. As wonderful as the Clubhouse was since Apple Bloom fixed it up -- no more chickens pecking her head this winter! -- its one major drawback was that most of the approaches to it were visible from the Apple Family farmhouse. She was already abusing the Apple family's hospitality by living there, there was no need to borrow trouble by getting caught!
So, in order not to get caught "sneaking" home, she was sneaking around town. She darted around the pools of light under the firefly lanterns and scooted from shadow to shadow, trying not to be seen. She really didn't need a well meaning pony to catch her and begin asking awkward questions and trying to "help" her. 'Just an hour or two to let the Apples settle down for bed," she thought.
Her peregrinations brought her to the new train station, where she blinked at the carriage sitting on the track. The engine was sleek, like a pegasus in a meteor dive, and if it weren't for flexible articulations and the wheels, she would have thought the two cars behind it were part of it. It looked like it was flying leagues per minute standing still. The lettering on the side looked at the same time familiar and alien, but what caught her attention the most was the brilliant yellow lightning bolt on the side. It called to her in the same way Rainbow Dash's cutie mark drew her.
She drew closer, committing every detail to memory, when there was a sudden hiss and a door she hadn't noticed opened, lowering a ramp to the platform. Warm, comforting light seemed to invite her in, and an achingly familiar silhouette was framed temporarily in the doorway.
"M-mom?" Tears began to form in her eyes. Her mother was gone, wasn't she. Curiosity and longing drew her to set foot on the ramp and step inside. As soon as her tail cleared the threshold, there was a flash of light that reminded her of Miss Twilight's teleportation and a peal of thunder. Startled, she turned back to the door...
... and stared in shock. The train was no longer in Ponyville. She stepped off the train, and into a scene from a Daring Do novel. Except for the bare minimum of track and platform, the place she found herself was more ancient temple than train station.
She looked to the sky and was staggered at how brilliant the stars were, and the fact that she could not see the moon anywhere in the sky. "That's impossible! The stars can't be out if the moon's not in the sky!"
"Many more things are possible than you think, little one."
"Who said that?" Scootaloo got into a position she'd seen Rainbow Dash get into when something was going down, head low, legs ready to launch her in any direction. She eased her tension when she recognized the silhouette from the train. "Hey, lady! Where are we?"
The silhouette paused, and stepped into the light cast by one of several torches lighting a path away from the train. A pith helmet cast a shadow across her face. "We are at the Rock of Eternity, little one. The master of this place has been expecting you."
"Really? Does he own that train? 'Cause, I gotta tell you, it is pretty awesome!"
The mare chuckled. "He does, and I agree. If you follow me, I will lead you to him."
"Well, I guess I can say "hi", since I'm here and all." Scootaloo cautiously approached the mare and followed her.
Their path led them past several strangely flat paintings on the walls that had many different scenes, all of them dominated by a yellow lightning bolt like the one painted on the train. She was startled to recognize some of the scenes from the stained glass windows in the palace at Canterlot. They didn't feature the same lightning bolt, but rather Rainbow Dash's cutie mark, enlarged and with the yellow part made more prominent. The mare paused here, noticing Scotaloo's grin.
"Ah yes, Rainbow Dash, she would have strode these very halls five years ago, had another legacy not claimed her," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"As a bearer of the Element of Loyalty, she cannot claim the boon the master of this place would grant you in her stead. But that is not yet important. Please, let us continue."
They passed through a great archway and into a hall flanked by two rows of statues, seven on the left, and six on the right. Scootaloo easily recognized the six mares enshrined on the right as ponies she knew from Ponyville, each in a post that perfectly showed who the were, but below them there were plaques that read "The Elements of Harmony", and "Honesty", "Laughter", "Kindness", "Loyalty", "Generosity", and "Friendship."
Across the hall, the seven other statues resembled ponies, but twisted by negative emotions. The plaques there were "The Seven Enemies of Harmony" and "Anger," "Jealousy," "Greed," "Laziness," "Pride," "Gluttony," and "False Desire."
As the pair walked down the hall, the flickering torchlight made the eyes of the statues seem to follow them. Scootaloo was creeped out by the gazes of the statues on the left, but drew comfort from the ones on the right. As she left the room, she thought that the shadows across "False Desire" were boring into her, but the shadows on "Kindness" seemed to change its expression from gentle care into "the Stare" directed at "False Desire."
Unnerved, Scootaloo backed quickly out of the room and into the stopped form of her guide. "I can go no further," the mare said. "You must approach the master of this place alone." She gestured down the hall, and hundreds of torches suddenly lit, illuminating a room not unlike Princess Celestia's Throne Room in Canterlot. Dozens of stone tablets on short pillars lined the path, but, aside from knowing that there were six lines on each, she could not read them. She saw that four of them were lit with rippling lightning, which looked really cool.
"Approach me, Scootaloo," A deep male voice said from up ahead, drawing the filly's attention.
An old, bearded, grey unicorn sat on a stone plinth, his horn glowing and levitating an enormous boulder over his head.
"Wh-who are you, Mister?" She asked, stopping a polite distance away.
He smiled gently. "Equestrians call me the Wizard... BASSAP!" As the unicorn spoke the last word a massive lightning bolt struck one of the unlit tablets, making the filly jump. "I have searched Equestria for a Champion of Good for a long time, Scootaloo." The unicorn's smile grew wider. "And watching you, I believe you have the potential to be one of the best. Who knows... you might even earn your Cutie Mark."
Scootaloo's eyes grew wide. "Sign me up, Mister Bassap!"
A bolt of lightning struck her...
... and she was changed.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Scootaloo wandered the streets of Ponyville well after sunset. There had been a party at Sweet Apple Acres for Granny Smith's Birthday, so she had needed to appear to "go home" much later than usual. As wonderful as the Clubhouse was since Apple Bloom fixed it up -- no more chickens pecking her head this winter! -- its one major drawback was that most of the approaches to it were visible from the Apple Family farmhouse. She was already abusing the Apple family's hospitality by living there, there was no need to borrow trouble by getting caught!
So, in order not to get caught "sneaking" home, she was sneaking around town. She darted around the pools of light under the firefly lanterns and scooted from shadow to shadow, trying not to be seen. She really didn't need a well meaning pony to catch her and begin asking awkward questions and trying to "help" her. 'Just an hour or two to let the Apples settle down for bed," she thought.
Her peregrinations brought her to the new train station, where she blinked at the carriage sitting on the track. The engine was sleek, like a pegasus in a meteor dive, and if it weren't for flexible articulations and the wheels, she would have thought the two cars behind it were part of it. It looked like it was flying leagues per minute standing still. The lettering on the side looked at the same time familiar and alien, but what caught her attention the most was the brilliant yellow lightning bolt on the side. It called to her in the same way Rainbow Dash's cutie mark drew her.
She drew closer, committing every detail to memory, when there was a sudden hiss and a door she hadn't noticed opened, lowering a ramp to the platform. Warm, comforting light seemed to invite her in, and an achingly familiar silhouette was framed temporarily in the doorway.
"M-mom?" Tears began to form in her eyes. Her mother was gone, wasn't she. Curiosity and longing drew her to set foot on the ramp and step inside. As soon as her tail cleared the threshold, there was a flash of light that reminded her of Miss Twilight's teleportation and a peal of thunder. Startled, she turned back to the door...
... and stared in shock. The train was no longer in Ponyville. She stepped off the train, and into a scene from a Daring Do novel. Except for the bare minimum of track and platform, the place she found herself was more ancient temple than train station.
She looked to the sky and was staggered at how brilliant the stars were, and the fact that she could not see the moon anywhere in the sky. "That's impossible! The stars can't be out if the moon's not in the sky!"
"Many more things are possible than you think, little one."
"Who said that?" Scootaloo got into a position she'd seen Rainbow Dash get into when something was going down, head low, legs ready to launch her in any direction. She eased her tension when she recognized the silhouette from the train. "Hey, lady! Where are we?"
The silhouette paused, and stepped into the light cast by one of several torches lighting a path away from the train. A pith helmet cast a shadow across her face. "We are at the Rock of Eternity, little one. The master of this place has been expecting you."
"Really? Does he own that train? 'Cause, I gotta tell you, it is pretty awesome!"
The mare chuckled. "He does, and I agree. If you follow me, I will lead you to him."
"Well, I guess I can say "hi", since I'm here and all." Scootaloo cautiously approached the mare and followed her.
Their path led them past several strangely flat paintings on the walls that had many different scenes, all of them dominated by a yellow lightning bolt like the one painted on the train. She was startled to recognize some of the scenes from the stained glass windows in the palace at Canterlot. They didn't feature the same lightning bolt, but rather Rainbow Dash's cutie mark, enlarged and with the yellow part made more prominent. The mare paused here, noticing Scotaloo's grin.
"Ah yes, Rainbow Dash, she would have strode these very halls five years ago, had another legacy not claimed her," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"As a bearer of the Element of Loyalty, she cannot claim the boon the master of this place would grant you in her stead. But that is not yet important. Please, let us continue."
They passed through a great archway and into a hall flanked by two rows of statues, seven on the left, and six on the right. Scootaloo easily recognized the six mares enshrined on the right as ponies she knew from Ponyville, each in a post that perfectly showed who the were, but below them there were plaques that read "The Elements of Harmony", and "Honesty", "Laughter", "Kindness", "Loyalty", "Generosity", and "Friendship."
Across the hall, the seven other statues resembled ponies, but twisted by negative emotions. The plaques there were "The Seven Enemies of Harmony" and "Anger," "Jealousy," "Greed," "Laziness," "Pride," "Gluttony," and "False Desire."
As the pair walked down the hall, the flickering torchlight made the eyes of the statues seem to follow them. Scootaloo was creeped out by the gazes of the statues on the left, but drew comfort from the ones on the right. As she left the room, she thought that the shadows across "False Desire" were boring into her, but the shadows on "Kindness" seemed to change its expression from gentle care into "the Stare" directed at "False Desire."
Unnerved, Scootaloo backed quickly out of the room and into the stopped form of her guide. "I can go no further," the mare said. "You must approach the master of this place alone." She gestured down the hall, and hundreds of torches suddenly lit, illuminating a room not unlike Princess Celestia's Throne Room in Canterlot. Dozens of stone tablets on short pillars lined the path, but, aside from knowing that there were six lines on each, she could not read them. She saw that four of them were lit with rippling lightning, which looked really cool.
"Approach me, Scootaloo," A deep male voice said from up ahead, drawing the filly's attention.
An old, bearded, grey unicorn sat on a stone plinth, his horn glowing and levitating an enormous boulder over his head.
"Wh-who are you, Mister?" She asked, stopping a polite distance away.
He smiled gently. "Equestrians call me the Wizard... BASSAP!" As the unicorn spoke the last word a massive lightning bolt struck one of the unlit tablets, making the filly jump. "I have searched Equestria for a Champion of Good for a long time, Scootaloo." The unicorn's smile grew wider. "And watching you, I believe you have the potential to be one of the best. Who knows... you might even earn your Cutie Mark."
Scootaloo's eyes grew wide. "Sign me up, Mister Bassap!"
A bolt of lightning struck her...
... and she was changed.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll